TOW #27: To Build a (Better) Fire by Burkhard Bilger

As public concern has shifted more and more in recent years towards the idea of our own survival in the face of mounting climate change, many individuals have taken it upon themselves to seek their own solutions to the problems of our time in the face of failure on the part of the world's governments. Chief among the efforts of these individuals are efforts to return the power to halt climate change to the common people. In the opinions of these individuals, the common people shouldn't have to wait for government policy to change their lives. Instead, they should take it upon themselves to achieve the change they desire for themselves. These ideals are perfectly embodies by Dale Andreatta and Peter Scott, two homegrown engineers with a desire to solve a global issue by tackling its fundamental cause. These two intriguing young men are the topic of 2011 Conservation Magazine article To Build a (Better) Fire, by Burkhard Bilger.

As the article is more of an editorial than an opinionated piece, there is no essential argument to the piece, more an overview of the belief system and actions of two men, and their coworkers who support them in their endeavor. In this regard, Andreatta and Scott both feel that solving the issue of food production among the least technologically advanced members of the human race is essential to improving our species as a whole, as the emissions from the fires of these aboriginal peoples produce the same amount of carbon dioxide as a running car. Solving this issue is the primary purpose of Scott and Andreatta's quest to build a better stove for use in tribal environments. 

Given the topic of the piece, as well as the nature of the publication that it was published in, it is reasonable to assume that the audience of this essay is liberal in their political persuasion, and could also be considered environmentally conscious. More than simply being conscious of their surroundings however, the reader of this sort of an article is most likely an active participant in efforts to stem the tide of environmental change, and promote a healthier planet through conscious efforts to inform the public of the harmful effects of climate change. This is evidenced by the sort of articles that this publications tends to feature, most of which are more politically radical than this. 

In considering the effectiveness of the article in achieving its purpose, I am immediately inclined to say that it is extremely effective. This is the case primarily because it makes an effective claim to an audience that would most likely be willing to accept the claims and provisions that the article features, and able to affect the specific sort of change that the article promotes. The article features evidence of both the empirical and the data-driven sort, and effectively makes a two-pronged argument, which centers around the engineering efforts of a small group of dedicated men and women, and the positive effects of their actions. As is pretty typical for publications of this sort, the focus of the essay could also be considered the need for greater action to occur, while effectively striking a delicate balance between a concerted call to action, and a celebration of successful efforts already undertaken. In this way, the article succeeds tremendously in accomplishing its purpose. 

TOW #26: Dead Poet's Society as a Visual Text

This weekend, I had the pleasure of watching the classic film Dead Poet's Society for the first time. Given the topic of the story, and the fact that much of what happens throughout the film centers around classical texts and the impact that they have on modern characters, I think it serves as the perfect visual text to analyze in an APELC setting.

In considering what the director of Dead Poet's Society, Peter Weir, wishes for the audience to take from the film, it is essential to examine the social climate of the film as a whole, and understand how this affects the film's main characters. The story's setting at the Welton school can only be described as a place where conservative values of private education and institutionalism clash with the progressive ideals of youth, and those of John Keating, played by Robin Williams. As the film's tagline cites, Keating acts as the inspiration for the young men of his English class, who have been subjected to the rigged cultural ideals of the Welton School their entire lives. This is best evidenced when Keating reads aloud the absurd introduction to the classes English textbook, which instructs students to use an X-Y Axis to rate a poem's perfection, then allows the students to tear the book apart. In this way, Keating exposes the students to their first real taste of freedom and self expression in an educational environment. This is the first of several instances of Keating exposing the students to educational freedom over the course of the film. In the way, he challenges his students to question the social and political norms that define life at Welton. This leads Charlie to publish an article arguing for a coeducational environment at the school, and leads Neil Perry to take up an interest in acting, despite his father's stiff punishments.

Overall, this encouragement of doing what others might frown upon for the sake of "finding oneself" is the film's main message. Keating acts as the embodiment of the ideals he discusses in classic works such as Ulysees and The Odyssey. The relationship he shares with his students, and the outcome of these relationships at the end of the film, serves as an overall metaphor for the importance of questioning authority in all of its forms, and shaping ones identity not for the sake of others, but for the sake of oneself. It is important to note that Keating does not act a savior for his students, but rather that he acts as a tool for them to find the savior in themselves. It is through his lessons that his students go on to shape their own lives, and defy the rigid authoritarianism that surrounds them in the conservative environment of Welton, as well as the pressures they face from their at-home environments. Professor Keating enables his students to realize that they are more than mere products of the educational system, but individuals, capable of unique and wonderful things. He also attempts to instill in them a desire and a consciousness towards their ability to change the status quo of their environment. The films final scene, in which all of the members of the Dead Poet's Society stand on their desk's in a silent salute to Mr. Keating,  reveals his success at this endeavor.

TOW #25: Future of the Library

Published on CreativeNonFiction.org in 2007, this short essay seeks to paint a bright, if not troubled view of the future of the modern library in American society. This essay seeks to make these points in response to the massive decline in the quantity of American libraries in the wake of the growth of Amazon and other alternative forms of book consumption.

Specifically, the artist's purpose behind the essay is to illustrate her hope for how the library can remain an important physical institution in our nation, as society grows increasingly digitalized. It does this by depicting the life of a young woman in the late 2020's, recalling the history of the library over the past decade or so. This is designed to imitate a common tactic favored by authors paving a bright future on their own ideals; imagining the world as they would wish for it to appear. 

In depicting the future of the library in this fashion, the essay evokes several important ideas, all of which are intentional. The first, and perhaps the most significant, is that it indicates the recent issue of digitalization in America. By showing the issues that arise from a completely digitalized society, including the supposed death of printed texts, and the loss of physically important national institutions such as local libraries, the author illustrates why it is important to avoid these grim views of the future while it is still well within our reach.

Overall the essay effectively achieves its purpose of offering a commentary on the optimistic future of the library, the wrongful nature of American over digitalization , and providing a unique, most likely unconsidered take on the future of the library in an increasingly non-physical society. It achieves these purposes through the use of a single rhetorical device; the authors examination of a future with and without libraries, offered for the purpose of internal self-reflection on the part of the reader.  Most short essays are necessarily are brief in their textual offerings, while others rely on no words at all. This essay is effective at achieving its purpose because it allows the reader to clearly grasp so much from a series of admittedly narrow anecdotes.